NCLS Trustee and Member Director Meeting COVID 19
NCLS Trustee and Member Director Meeting COVID – 19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
Library Trustees Library Staff Community Members NCLS Funders Opportunities for Growing and Sustaining Relationships During a Crisis
Funding Sustainability Upset Patron Library Trustees Completing State Reports Juggling Two Jobs Library Staff Community Members NCLS Long-term Budget Planning with Flat Revenue Scheduling Conflicts Funders Budgeting within the Tax Cap? What Changes Might We See in Our Relationships?
Single Parent Making Plan for Kids Investment and Retirement Losses Opportunity to Work Collaboratively Work/Life Balance Opportunity to Volunteer and Give Back No Health Insurance – What if I Get Sick? Sick Family Member Library Trustees Community Members Library Staff Balancing Kids and Work Quality Time With Family Cut to State Aid NCLS Funding Opportunity for PPE Lost Job Funders How do I Plan for the Future? Loss of Tax Revenue Food Insecurity Lots of New Inputs and Stressors
What Changes Should We Expect in Our Communities? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
COVID-19 Timeline to to d d e t e c t pe able x pec val E x E e il n a e i o v r c n i c A p c Va idely Vac FDA Ap be W Get ic m e d Pan red a Decl March 2020 Summer 2021 Two Years Fall 2021/Winter 2022
NCLS Trustee and Member Director Meeting Agenda April 27, 2020 – 3 pm (Online Video Conference) 1. What will library services look like over the next two weeks, two months, a year, two years? 2. Review of current Executive Orders and State Guidance (What work can staff do in your buildings? What will happen with trustee elections and budget votes? What will be required to open? Managing construction project delays, etc. ) 3. What should Library Trustees be doing to prepare for opening buildings and protecting their staff? (see attached document prepared by the NYS Library System Attorney who is also trained in crisis response). What legal responsibilities do boards have as an employer? 4. What should Library Directors be doing to prepare for the opening of their buildings? What are they doing now? 5. Question and Answer (feel free to send me your questions ahead of time)
What will library services look like over the next two weeks, two months, a year, two years?
Review of State Executive Orders and Guidance 1. What work can staff do in your buildings? 2. What will happen with trustee elections and budget votes? 3. What will be required to open the library? 4. When can the library reopen? 5. How can you manage construction project delays? 6. What do boards have to do to comply with open meetings law?
Library Board Duties 1. Employ a competent and qualified director. 2. Adopt a mission statement. Determine goals. (Written Long Range Plan) Evaluate progress toward meeting goals. 3. Develop and adopt policies. Review periodically. 4. Secure adequate funding to support organizational goals. 5. Establish and participate in public relations and marketing programs. Actively support library legislation in the state. 6. Prepare the budget in consultation with the Director. 7. Present the budget to funding agencies and the public; explain and defend it. 8. Monitor budget expenditures. 9. Know local and state laws and regulations (NYS Ed, Dept. of Labor, OSHA, NYS Comptroller, etc). 10. Attend continuing education workshops to keep up-to-date.
Library Director Duties 1. Hire personnel and supervise their work. 2. Inform the Board about regional/state/national library issues and trends. 3. Suggest needed policies for Board consideration. Carry out the policies as adopted by the Board. 4. Prepare reports of library's current progress and future needs. Suggest plans for extending library services. 5. Maintain active public relations program. Actively support library legislation in the state. 6. Prepare an annual budget in consultation with the Board. Give a report of expenditures at each meeting. 7. Closely follow the budget process. Provide leadership in supporting the budget. 8. Oversee expenditures from budget including selection and ordering of all library materials and equipment. 9. Know local and state laws. 10. Attend continuing education workshops to keep up-to-date with trends and changes in the library field.
Library Networks in NYS And Their Roles Regulatory Board of Regents Support Commissioner of Education Local control Deputy Commissioner of Education Division of Library Development (DLD) Reference and Research Resource Councils (9) LIBRARY SYSTEMS: Public Library (23) School Library (42)) -Academic Libraries -Hospital Libraries -Special Libraries -Public Libraries -Outreach Services -Correctional Facilities -BOCES -School Library Media Centers
Role of the North Country Library System Provi de Loans Bridge f Const or ru Proje ction cts e Complet ort ep Annual R Delivery • Weekly deliveries to all libraries • Over 1600 miles traveled each week Technology • • • Shared Circulation System Manage Fiber Network Databases and E-Resource Mgmt. idual Manage Indiv ages Library Webp Loan Librar ies $$ for PC Replace ment Leg e d i v o r P Advice al Man a Netw ge Wi-Fi ork ers v r Se Manage n i a t Grants n s ai e L i i b M r r a • Youth Services & Early Literacy • Provides service to the elderly, ries Hav nd l Libra a e Gotte l l from O • Professional development a a disabled, hearing or visually t n u s utside In divid • Funding issues impaired Agencie s in In • Relationships with municipalities • Materials are mailed directly to the r Orde • Reporting patron free of charge 1 c 3 s r 0 e t 5 u p e m Co • Construction grants plet m o C Maintain ork w r e Compute Install and Fix P p pa rs in Libraries rinters Hook up printers or faxes from 3 rd party vendors Outreach Consulting
What should library boards be doing right now?
Top 10 Actions a NY Library Board Can Take to Foster a Library’s Mission and Ensure its Viability During the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis (from Stephanie Cole Adams – “Ask the Lawyer” service sponsored by our regional library system) 1. Commit for each member to perform board work no less than weekly 2. Set a “Crisis Response Goal” defining how your library will handle the current emergency and eventual recovery period. An example Goal is: “During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, The Library will serve the community, fulfill its mission, and meet the goals of its plan of service by meeting the public's need for reliable information, providing access to critical resources and services, and serving as a community hub. ” The key is to focus on what you will do (not how you will do it).
3. Use a “Crisis Response Team” approach At this time, an effective board is concerned about numerous things: The safety of the library and the community it serves, the fiscal impact of the current crisis, the reduced or eliminated operations of the library, its relationship with its community, making appropriate decisions about employees, the stewardship of the library's physical assets, and how to meet its plan of service. One or two people should play the role of team leader. The Team Leader’s primary role will be connecting the work of each group, and the professional staff, to enable critical decisionmaking and to develop a response plan. The Team Leader will also ensure the library director is supported as they continue their duties under a time of duress, that the director is positioned to contribute to the work of the teams as needed, getting them vital information, and collaborating on the formation of the library’s strategic response.
4. Assess your board’s capacity, and reinforce it where needed Many of the skills and attributes that make someone a valuable board member in non-pandemic times (fund-raising, deep knowledge of books and culture, ability to rally volunteers) might not be the only things needed during the initial phases of a pandemic response. Further, many boards, faced with this crisis, may be feeling overwhelmed. Unless a person has guided a not-for-profit organization through a crisis, the experience of the average board member might be tested by the current situation. That is OK. We are all feeling tested. The good news is, if your board does not have the capacity to assemble teams with the experience listed in #3, your board is allowed to add non-board members to non-voting committees, or to invite them to meetings as guest advisors.
5. Form your board’s Safety Team The COVID-19 pandemic is causing incalculable impact on business operations and the functions of day-to-day society. However, it remains first and foremost a public health crisis. That is why, if you choose to use a crisis response team approach, the first team your board should appoint is the team responsible for safety. When the full board is considering a team's recommendation, the safety team’s role is to ensure the board fully considers the safety implications of any one course of action. For instance, if there is a decision to have one library employee check the mail every day, the safety team is asking: Is this safe? Is there a way it could be made safer? Your Safety Team will spend time on public health resources such as the CDC website, the OSHA website, and will monitor your county health department's recommendations and advisories. In any action related to your library's response, they are only thinking about safety and the health of the community. This includes the health and safety of employees, volunteers, and the board.
6. Form your board’s Fiscal Team The current crisis is going to hit public libraries in a variety of ways, and for many, the fiscal hit will be especially hard. This is why appointing a Fiscal Team with the skills to assess the current situation, run projections, reach out to fiscal sponsors, and develop plans for the financial stability of your library is key. The immediate tasks of this group will be assessing the impact of the situation and developing a short-term plan for financial viability. That short-term plan shouldn't go much further than mid to late May. After that, the plans will need to consider various contingencies. For this reason, the group should include, or regularly invite, the library director. It is the job of the Fiscal Team to provide solid, reliable, and situationally-adjusted financial information and options for the other teams (especially Operations) to work with.
7. Form your board’s Operations Team This also means that every library in our state is facing a slightly different situation when it comes to pandemic response. Rural libraries are facing different challenges than urban libraries. Suburban libraries in one county will face different challenges than suburban libraries in the next county over. And this isn’t just about location—it’s about service. While one library might be a source of donated food, another may be the community's lifeline to certain key services. Another library may be a vital source of senior programming, while in another community, it’s the toddlers that will be missing out. So with that background, what is the role of an Operations Team during the crisis response? It considers the critical operations of the library and develops plans to adopt or carry on those operations during a time of crisis response and—critically--recovery. Many of the items the Operations Team will consider will have implications for safety. The operations team should do their best to build consideration for safe practices into their recommendations, and only then have things reviewed with a fresh eye by the Safety Team.
8. Designate your board’s Crisis Response “Team Leader” The purpose of breaking the responsibilities for a crisis response into teams is to allow work to happen with deep focus and great frequency. It is also to ensure that quick, decisive and well-informed action is not bogged down in the inefficiencies of a large group. What does the Team Leader do? The Team Leader pays attention to what is happening with each and every team and connects and pulls their work together as needed. They also identify when matters are ready to be presented before the full board for discussion and a resolution and ensure the work of the teams is done in healthy cross-collaboration with the work of the director. A good team leader, at this time, also needs to be accessible through phone, e-mail, and video conferencing. If a person can’t reach out in multiple ways, they might not be the best person to lead the teams. As with everything else, THIS IS OKAY. Regardless of the role a person plays, it is all part of your fiduciary duty to support the best interests of the library.
9. Designate your board’s Public Relations Team The impact of this crisis on your library will also have a huge impact on your community. The energy of those who support and are supported by your library (the “stakeholders”) need to be channeled to mitigate that impact as much as possible. How do you harness that energy? Just like your Operations Team, the role of your PR Team is going to change depending on the unique situation of your library. However, the overall goal of any PR Team is to ensure that the “Goal” of the library, and the things it is doing to achieve that Goal, are articulated to the stakeholders in an accessible, regular and reliable way.
10. Be Just Good Enough – and form a Crisis Response Team! Here are some hard truths: • There is no perfect way to handle a pandemic response. • No board will be totally up to this challenge. • There are things you will fail at. But by using a Crisis Response Team-informed model, you will set your board up to succeed more than you fail. ________________ **In the event you determine a crisis response model will be helpful to your library in the coming months, there is a resolution in the handout that you can use to enact it.
Legal and HR Considerations • Policies & Procedures – HR professionals suggest addressing the following: • • Cross-training the workforce to accommodate more employee absences Social distancing in the workplace Temperature checks PPE Responding to positive COVID-19 test results for patrons, staff, volunteers, and trustees Review the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act - Staff self-quarantine policy Disinfecting public and staff spaces Remote work policies • Review employee benefits, paid sick leave, workers compensation, etc. • Obligation to protect staff • Policies • OSHA Regulations • CDC and other Guidelines
What should library directors be doing right now?
Directors Are Supporting Each Other and Working Together to Respond to this Crisis and Continue to Offer High Quality Services NCLS PANDEMIC RESPONSE WORKING GROUPS DIRECTOR’S ORGANIZATION WORKING GROUPS – FUTURE PROOFING • Policy Group (recommend new policies that need to be put in place before opening) • Shared Online Programming (allow all libraries to capitalize on the programs being done at individual libraries, scaffolded experiences) • Procedures Group (cleaning and precautions) • New Partnerships (what new partnerships can benefit our libraries and our communities) • Timeline Group (turning services back on) • Digital Services Group (recommend improved and increased digital services) • New Service Models (how can we continue to offer vibrant programs and services through this disruption? ) • Summer Reading (“summer slide” just got longer – how can we make sure our kids are ready for the mental and emotional challenges ahead? )
Importance of Summer Reading Less than 45% of North Country Children are Proficient Readers English Language Arts Scores % Proficient in 2019 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 NYS Jefferson Lewis For more information go to data. nysed. gov Oswego St. Lawrence Syracuse
5. Question and Answer
Resources Safety: OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 - https: //www. osha. gov/Publications/OSHA 3990. pdf Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 https: //www. cdc. gov/coronavirus/2019 -ncov/community/guidance-business-response. html Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility - https: //www. cdc. gov/coronavirus/2019 -ncov/community/disinfecting-building-facility. html **e. Cornell Video Course: Workplace Safety in a Pandemic: Slowing the Spread of the Coronavirus and Communicable Diseases - https: //www. ecornell. com/keynotes/view/K 041020 a/ HR: NY COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave - https: //www. governor. ny. gov/programs/paid-sick-leave-covid-19 -impacted-new-yorkers Responding to COVID-19. Ten Lessons From the World of HR Leaders - https: //joshbersin. com/2020/04/responding-to-covid-19 -tenlessons-from-the-worlds-hr-leaders/ **e. Cornell Video Course: The Urgent Role of Human Resources: Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis - https: //www. ecornell. com/keynotes/view/K 040920/
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